Jonathan Groff on HBO’s ‘Looking’ and ‘The Normal Heart’

“Looking” is the new HBO series premiering this Sunday after “Girls,” and much like “Girls,” it focuses on a group of friends as they bond and search for love, trying to discover themselves as they struggle to make it in a big city, in this case San Francisco, the city of “overrated cupcakes and kimchi tacos,” as one character puts it.

The focus here, though, is on gay men. And while gay characters have become a staple on so many network and cable shows lately—mostly in loving relationships and often with children—“Looking” is the first to center almost exclusively on gay male friendship since Showtime’s groundbreaking early-aughts show, “Queer as Folk.”

Much like “QAF,” “Looking” features a good amount of sex, often in interesting locales and combinations. Yet the differences between the shows are pronounced. “Queer as Folk” was about gay identity, self-acceptance and homophobia. The characters lived in a world where gay men were still mostly dying of AIDS and not a single state had passed same-sex marriage. In “Looking,” Patrick, Dom and Agustin Facebook-stalk their exes, contemplate becoming rent boys and consider opening up Portuguese chicken restaurants. Their sexual identity is something they take for granted—they’re more likely to fret about who they’ll bring to the joint bachelor party of an ex getting married than about the possibility of getting queer-bashed walking home from a bar.

“Looking” star Jonathan Groff is mostly known for his role as Jesse St. James on “Glee,” and now he’s basking in the success of Disney’s “Frozen,” in which he’s the voice of Kristoff. In “Looking,” Groff plays Patrick, an awkward but sweet 29-year-old video game designer who’s the youngest of the three friends. I spoke with Groff about the aesthetics and tone of “Looking,” as well as his thoughts on the timeliness and message of the show.

So the hype on the show before it premieres is that it’s like the gay man’s “Sex and the City” or maybe the gay man’s “Girls,” but after watching four episodes, I’d say both comparisons aren’t really accurate. It feels very naturalistic and real.

The good thing about the comparisons is maybe there’s an audience crossover there, if you like “SATC” and you like “Girls,” chances are you might like “Looking” because it’s about relationships and finding love and the complexities of people and the way they relate to each other.

[The tone of the show] is a direct reflection of our director/writer/exec producer, Andrew Haigh, who did this movie a couple of years ago called “Weekend”….It was unlike any other experience I had before, because you kind of show up and know the lines [but] the scenes ended up being very based on the locations we were in, and he was really not precious about the writing, so if something in the moment didn’t sound exactly right coming out of someone’s mouth he’d say let’s change it or let’s cut it, let’s improv in a little bit…it’s in those moments of improvisation and discovery that happened that weren’t preplanned, that are a lot of the major moments of the show. He set up an environment to make those moments happen.

San Francisco is as crucial to this show as New York is to both “SATC” and “Girls.” Can you talk about shooting there, and how you think the location is informing the show.

It’s a very site specific show…Our costume designer Danny Glicker trolled the streets of San Francisco and took pictures of people dressed in these clothes so it wasn’t the gay style parade…[Instead] it really felt like people actually living in SF. A lot of our crew actually lives and is from San Francisco. It’s such a great city and such a great vibe. We shot at a lot of gay bars there. At the end of episode 4 when I’m dancing with Richie at this place called the Stud, there would be moments when people would walk by when we were shooting and we would invite them to be background in the scene. Getting to live there was a dream. I’m an avid bike rider and I rode my bike to the set every day. I loved it.

So Patrick is a little naive, he’s innocent and goofy and he means well, but he’s overeager. You and Patrick are basically the same age. Do you relate to him? How does it feel like to play a character that may hit a bit closer to home?

I hope that in my personal life I don’t have as much of a blind spot as Patrick has. The thing I probably connect to most in his world is his friendships with Agustin and Dom, I feel like those are really strong. I think about the friends that I’ve had for a long time where they grew up together and went to college together… and [now] sort of learning about each other in a new way as they show different qualities of themselves as they grow up so I definitely relate to that.

As far as the acting of it is concerned, I’ve never been the kind of actor who thinks of his dog dying to work on an emotional scene. I use my imagination and I throw myself into the words of the script and I don’t think about how can I put something related to me in here. Anything that feels like me or elements of myself that end up in Patrick are completely unconscious.

One of the messages I take away from the show is that the gay community is at a crossroads of sorts. The show doesn’t shy away from Grindr or three-ways and open relationships. All of these are a part of gay culture that the show celebrates rather than downplays. Do you think it’s important for the LGBT community to hold on to these aspects of their culture that don’t necessarily fit in with the marriage and commitment message that’s been at the heart of the movement for so long now?

Absolutely. That’s part of the culture and it’s so important to continue to have that be a part of the culture. It’s interesting that the show is mostly about men who are not grappling with their sexuality; it’s not like anyone is having a big issue with the fact that they’re gay. At the end of the day we’re all just trying to figure out where we fit in the world and what feels right to us, personally. And I think that’s also what the show is showing. Hopefully people get connected to specific characters and maybe take away the message that sure, it’s important to be feel connected and be a part of a group of people but at the end of the day, you have to be true to yourself.

In “Frozen,” you’re the voice of Kristoff, who’s described as a “rugged mountain man.” In 2010, Newsweek writer Ramin Satoodeh said that you were unconvincing in the role of the straight Jesse St. James on “Glee.” Can you talk a little bit about the pigeonholing gay actors often encounter? You’ve seemed to avoid it.

The more and more people come out the more it becomes a non-issue. As far as pigeonholing is concerned, I feel as an actor it’s a very universal problem. It’s not just a gay problem. Really any actor that gets known for a specific projects gets known for that one thing. I experienced a little bit in the world of musical theater, trying to prove to people that I could also do straight plays or film and television. In some ways it forces us to demand more of ourselves and prove ourselves as artists. I’m open to accepting that challenge.

You’ve also completed “The Normal Heart” for HBO, which is a movie based on Larry Kramer’s play. Can you discuss your role in it and what the play means to you personally?

I feel like it’s such a powerful piece of writing and theater. I would’ve worked the crew on that movie, I believe in that piece so much. That message and play is so important—that’s it being laid down forever in a movie, it’s so important and I feel really proud to be a part of that.

We did a scene where it is the white party on Fire Island just as AIDS is about to hit. It’s a group of 20-year-olds on a beach genuinely having a blast. And just thinking that a huge part of that generation got wiped out by AIDS….To see all these people who are now in their 20s dancing around, the reminder of that that this story is going to bring, I feel like my generation and younger are going to be reminded of a huge part of our culture and what came before us.

Eric Sasson writes “Ctrl-Alt,” Speakeasy’s column on alternative culture. He is the author of Margins of Tolerance. You can follow him on Twitter @idazleior visit his website here.